CAR owners could soon pay as little as £25 to get rid of their old bangers.

Members of Kirklees Council's Cabinet are considering a pilot scheme for disposing of old cars.

They will vote on the move next Wednesday.

Mr Mike Proud, Kirklees's strategic waste manager, told the council's environment overview and scrutiny panel: "People may find it easier to ring the council and pay £25 for them to take their car away, than go to the scrapyard and sell it.

"We hope to trial it to see what the demand is."

Mr Proud said that in 2007, makers would be responsible for scrapping cars made by them.

But until that time, the last registered owner was responsible for disposing of a car.

Mr Proud said the Government wanted scrappers to recycle more materials from cars.

This needed more expensive equipment and, therefore, a bigger charge to the public.

"The cost will go up when the regulations come in. People may have to pay £90 to £100, which will lead to a bigger incentive for people to abandon their vehicles," he added. "On the other hand, it may be balanced by the new law on continuous registration."

Mr Proud said that where the police were involved, they could trace an owner using the police national computer.

But this hit problems when a vehicle's new owner did not register it.

However, moves were afoot to bring in continuous registration, by which the seller made sure details of the new owner were registered.

Otherwise they would be responsible for any criminal acts the vehicle may be involved in.

"It is a very strong piece of suggested legislation," said Mr Proud.

Councils had the duty to remove abandoned vehicles and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority could shift untaxed vehicles.

"People may think untaxed means abandoned, but not always," said Mr Proud.

He said people in Kirklees reported 2,600 vehicles as abandoned last year. But only 600 were abandoned and destroyed.

"If we had removed all of them we would have had 2,000 very unhappy residents," he added.